I AM THINKING ABOUT BUYING A DS650 AND WAS WONDERING HOW RELIABLE THEY WERE.

 

better than honda

 

one word AWESOME!!!!!!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

THANKS FOR THE REPLYS. I AM GOING TO SLEEP WILL CHECK IN WITH YA'LL TOMMOROW

 

first quad i rode and the first quad i bought. only 2 problems i had was the fan and an oil leak from a cracked line on the inlet side into the back of the case. the rotrax motor is very reliable. you hit a bump at a good speed and the bikes shocks and springs soak it up. in other words i love my bike.

 

as solid as they come


now easy on the caps lock please

 

Well a DS did sweep the Score desert races for the pro ATV class this year. Don't quote me, but I think the winning quad in the Paris to Dakar was a DS... I know that they're known for their reliability
J.

 

theyre about as reliable as and offroad motorcycle comes. i can go out and beat the hell out of it all day and know that it can take it. the internals are super solid and with normal mantinance will last through more abuse than anything out there. And as a Bonus it makes more power than any other stock bike on the market.

 

Freakneh you are correct, not only was the DS the winning quad 2 years in a row in the Dakar Rally, it was the only quad to actually finish.
The DS has a very high standing in the Bajas here at home in North America as well. Reliability and comfort are two major key factors.

 

I don't think the reliability is quite as good as it used to be with the DS650s. I had a 2001 model that I put about 4000 miles worth of abuse on, and only had to replace the radiator fan once. I had a 2002 model that I put about 2000 miles on, and only had to replace the chain roller one time. That is 6000 miles worth of hard riding with only one engine fan, and one chain roller, which is pretty amazing if you ask me.

My 2005 DS has not done as well, perhaps because I am desert racing this DS, whereas I just trail rode the other DS's. Racing is hard on equipment. On this DS I have had both front wheelbearings need repacked and retightend. The front swingarm bearing had to be dissassembled and regreased because it wasn't taking grease properly with just the grease zerk, but once cleaned and greased properly the grease zerk now does the trick just fine. And I have bent a rear axle, and bent the rear sprocket into an egg shape instead of a round circle, and the rear swingarm bearing has broken, and been replaced. I suspect the rear swingarm bearing breaking is partly because it had not been adequately greased when assembled from the factory, and partly from abuse. I did not see a big washout soon enough in a desert race, even though it had the triple danger marker in front of it, and I hit the washout in the top of fifth gear. The impact was so hard that I thought it was going to brake the ATV in half, and the recoil off the opposite side of the washout sent the DS airborn for a distance of at least 200'. But even with a big screw up like that the DS stayed straight and true, you gotta love the straight line stability of a DS650 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]. It was right after that race that I noticed all of the bearing problems, and bent parts, on my DS.